


Inconvenience

by BlueFlashbang



Series: The Nightshift [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Anxiety, Boss/Employee Relationship, Escape, F/F, Flashbacks, Human Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Human Peridot (Steven Universe), Humor, Lapis Lazuli - Freeform, Peer Pressure, Peridot - Freeform, Steven Universe - Freeform, Unconsciousness, for a best friend, unorganized tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-10-25 08:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10760736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFlashbang/pseuds/BlueFlashbang
Summary: Lapis and Peridot are both workers in a convenience store that work in the night shift.In one unfortunate evening, Lapis is knocked out by a door accident caused by Peridot, and now she has to get her conscious again for the rest of the night.(...now that i'm finished with this fic, i'm gonna promise to make more stories linked to this one as a series real Soon.)





	1. An unforeseen mishap

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I wanted to publish for a long time now! But I had exams, traveling, and a bunch of other busy stuff so I had to wait 2 and a half months to actually publish the first chapter. 
> 
>  
> 
> Originally, I didn't want this fic to have chapters and just make it a oneshot. But the ideas were too long to make it a oneshot so I decided to make everything separate I guess. This is also my first chapter story so this should be fun. But I don't know when I'll come back to update this and see how many chapters I'll go. Probably re-write something time to time if anything seemed wrong.

MIDNIGHT

“We’re Open” the sign on the entrance reads.  
An employee named Lapis shoves the door leisurely as soon as she walks inside the convenience store at 12:05 in the morning. Her uniform was dressed and her self-esteem uncertain, ready to take the night shift with her partner Peridot for 6 hours straight. She gaits towards the counter as she stretches her limbs up in the air.  
“I can’t get a day off, can’t I…?” she thinks out loud and stands on the usual spot behind the booth. 

It’s time for work. The most lackluster job on the planet begins for the girl who has not slept in weeks. 

The same old routine was current. Checking the cash register, observing the aisles, checking the food stocks, matters to keep the convenience store steady. She noticed the lights were still turned on when she arrived. Hence the manager must have come in earlier to watch over her and Peridot for another evening. _Immediately not a good sign._ The blue haired girl exhales looking through the doors she just entered. Soon she realizes that she was alone by the counter. 

It was already assured that the petite blonde would rush to the door a few minutes late for work. Peridot was always late for the night shift, only getting in trouble by the manager once. Lapis always left her behind in their apartment so she could rest a lot more. Sure, they needed to go to work at the same time, but she rather let her partner sleep peacefully and adorably after a busy day of reading and revising and proceed to the convenient store. She did not mind that she was always behind work and how she was going to get to work at all. But it was fairly dull whenever she was not around. 

“I hope she comes here soon.” Lapis says tapping all her fingers on the desk. She steals a pack of gum by the counter, not caring if she was going to get caught. She unseals the packet, takes a portion out, and chews it loudly. At least that was one way to kill time. Now commencing…waiting. 

30-40 MINUTES LATER...

The manager did not come out to see Lapis and the convenience store was unbearably quiet. Her jaw was nested on her palm as she sat down and waited for people to come in. Exhaling recapped every minute trying to terminate her monotony. While on the other hand, she could sleep for a few minutes even if it meant getting herself fired. Literally not many people come to the store since at least one or two people had already only entered. But except Peridot. 

Half an hour had passed since the shift started and she would have showed up 5 minutes then. Yet Lapis was still all alone.  
“Where the heck is she?” she asks nervous. Glancing at the entrance again, she walks out of the counter and glimpses outside the store. 

She leans forward to the glass door and sees the lamp posts glimmering all over the roads. There must at least be one sign telling if Peri had already shown up. She focuses on the dim alfresco and observes through the empty parking lot in front of the building. Later, she perceives a vague figure by the distance, but was unsure if it was Peridot. Maybe it was going to be another customer, or someone got high on the road. But the large puffy mane that looked like a triangle on top of the figure gave her a clear suggestion.  
“That must be her.” Lapis assumes. At that moment, she couldn’t help to feel that she should step back a little.

She slowly moves behind the entrance transferring 2 steps back. But before she could head back to the counter, the door quickly opens and smashes in front of her.

BUMP…! 

As the entrance opened abruptly, it knocks her head solid, causing her to receive a rough blow to her forehead. Lapis’ vision rapidly shifts to black as she loses her sense of balance. She falls to the ground and passes out cold by the entrance, getting hit from door to floor. Now it looked like a homicide had just occurred in the convenience store. 

Turns out Peridot had finally shown up for work. But she came in the most unfortunate turn of events.  
“SORRY I’M LATE! I WAS–––“she screeches after roughly opening the entrance. Her eyes gape down towards a body out cold on the Welcome mat. The azure hair covering its face furnished a quick guess that it was Lapis. “––What the hell?” she says letting go of the door and entering. She quickly examines the body fainted in front of her. For some reason she failed to comprehend that she was the reason for her coma, yet she still tries to think about what just happened to her. 

Peridot kneels down to her comatose body. “Um, Lapis?” she starts poking her. “You aren’t going to jump scare me, are you?” She tries shaking her body mildly to get her to respond. Yet she was answered with muteness.

“Lapiiiis” she voices to her as she ceaselessly wakes her up. Nothing was working, she halts trying to rouse her. “Hmm…I guess you are passed out.”

Quickly, she recalls how she got inside the store. She rushed in, opened the door, and then a throbbing noise, as if someone was bashed. Peridot realizes a bump underneath Lapis’ bangs. Now she becomes aware with how she caused her unconsciousness. 

“Uh oh…” her eyes widen. She panics while she starts shaking her irrepressibly.  
“Oh god, please don’t be dead!” she shouts. “LAPIS WAKE UP…!”

As she was trembling her body chaotically, Lapis’ snoring was heard the more she was shaken. She was fine. Peri withdraws her hands and quits waking her up, eloquent that she was not dead at all. 

The blonde exhales heavily. “That was close…” The store was noiseless as she glimpses around for any witnesses. Thankfully, the coast was clear, and the store foolishly didn’t have any security cameras whatsoever. But if anyone went in now, curious passersby’s would probably make a scene and call 911 or something like that. Luckily, all that could be avoidable for Peridot. The only problem was that she had to take matters into her own hands and awaken Lapis so they could get back to work.

The sign on the door switched from reading “We’re Open” to “Sorry, we’re closed” so nobody would come in. Lapis’ arm is grabbed by Peridot and dragged tiringly by the counter considering their size differences. She looks down at the unconscious girl with pressure and indecision, thinking that she was going to screw up even more if she tried waking her up again. Hitting her repeatedly with something was certainly not going to work. So she needed a diversion. 

Both of them were sightless outside the store, and Peri had all the time she needed to devise everything. “Okay, Peridot…” she says to herself. “…How do you wake up your girlfriend from a coma?”

CPR, perhaps? It seemed to work in every scenario Peridot has seen where somebody was passed out in movies. All she had to do was compress her lips with Lapis’ while breathing into her as well as continually pressing her chest with her palms. But the more she thought about it, the more it almost sounded a little sexual to her.  
She exhales as her face unwantedly becomes red. “I guess I don’t have any other options.” Peridot says. 

She gulps before leaning towards Lapis’ slumbering face and prepared to caress her. Her eyes shut close to avoid facing the blue haired girl. But before she could meet her lips with hers, she instantly kneels back up. 

“Wait, I can’t do this…!” she abruptly yells. Maybe manual CPR might be a little too much for the nerd. But she needed to figure out how to do this somehow.

A stash of magazines and newspapers were displayed in front of the counter. And if there was one thing those paper articles can do, it’s that they can roll into cylinders.  
“Hmm…” Peridot looks at the periodicals equally thinking of another idea.  
Far ahead, she grabs a random newsprint off the stand and reels it into a paper tube. “This should work.” She says narrowing the article. Her plan was this; blowing air into Lapis through a rolled up newspaper like some ventilation system so she wouldn’t have to gawkily kiss her and blow into her. The bottom hole of the paper tube places on Lapis’ uncluttered mouth and ready to initiate another mouth-to-mouth attempt. Peri gulps one more time before she can heavily exhale oxygen again. “please…”

She inhales and blows enormously through the paper pipe, puffing about 4 or 6 times by now. She gasps for more air deeply after each moment of immense breathing, shutting her eyes as she performs and hopes for the finest. Lapis still remained motionless and unconscious while the shrewd blonde did her best to wake her up and convey oxygen in to her. But as she progressed, the more it was getting hopeless and also rather pathetic. 

She then halts trying to convey air and proceeds to put her palms on the center of Lapis’ chest. She initiated thrusting her small hands repeatedly on her torso, impeccably but frail. Subsequent she returns to blowing air through the cylinder into Lapis, and then back to compressing her palms, and the process feebly continues. 

Peridot hastily lets go of the newspaper tube after puffing for who knows how much. Her face went from being plain red to a mixture of purple, trying to catch her breath after easily losing most of her inhalation from the CPR. She leaned her back against the counter, looking at the person she tried to recuperate. And she achieved nothing.

“This is what I get for failing med class…” she recollects.


	2. Fronting the manager

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The manager of the convenience store has come to watch over Peridot and Lapis, and Peridot has to make sure she doesn't notice that one of her employees was knocked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've repeatedly re-written this chapter for weeks and I have no idea if this will turn out alright.  
> I was supposed to publish this yesterday but I had a problem with the wifi so I was gonna have to wait. I had fun writing this thoug. Hope you'll like this chapter.

It was only half passed 1am, which was one more thing to be anxious about. At this point all Peridot had to do now was say “At least things can’t get any worse” and then the situation would ACTUALLY get even worse. And alas, she did, and it would. The door in furthest corner of the store was where the manager’s semi-office was. Peridot gapes towards it, noticing that someone was in there the whole time. She overhears rather lurid and high mumbling inside the room, even the sound of footsteps and an office chair pithily moving. Then it was affirmative; she was going to come out any time soon. 

Peridot frightfully drags Lapis again, this time behind the counter. She makes her insentient body sit down on a stool that was close at hand the whole time, also making sure that she was steady so she wouldn’t fall off all of a sudden.  
“Just a few more adjustments.” Peridot utters.  
She takes a pair of sunglasses off the glasses display on the counter and puts it on Lapis. Her closed eyes become disguised with the dark lenses, giving no clear sign that she was out cold. Peridot goes to her position while she waits for the manager to show up. “Maybe she won’t come out this time…” she says as her expression grows panicky. But later she got the opposite of what she hoped for… 

1:06 AM

So, ever since Lapis and Peridot got their jobs, they thought one of their contiguous friends being their manager would be the best thing ever. But really, she has been a pain in the ass to obey. She had rules, warnings, nagging, and all of which were unnecessary to even listen to. But it wasn’t like they could do anything about it. She was annoying and hard to listen to, but she was equally frightening when she was furious. 

Peridot and Lapis often talked rather critical about their manager behind the counter.  
“I don’t understand why she has these strict rules for us to follow.” Lapis would say lessening herself by sitting on the counter ostensibly with her legs crossed. “She’s the manager of a random convenience store in the middle of the night, not the president of some important company.”

“You don’t know what real frustration feels like, Lapis.” Peridot replies. “You’re not the one who reads hours of mechanical engineering for the whole day and coming to this dump 12 o’clock in the morning, only to get yelled at by one of our friends.” She tries to make herself sound more notable. Lapis replies chortling while stealing a box of whatever she could grab from the counter. 

“But we shouldn’t be talking behind her back, even sitting or stealing from the counter, Laz…”

“We do and say whatever I want, Peri. She can’t catch us.” 

...

Peridot picks up the rolled newspaper she castoff from her CPR attempt and unfolds it back to a regular newspaper. As soon as she was done taking position, she sees the office door open and the manager coming out.  
“Manager PEARL” was written on her name tag. She was dressed with the most average looking manager getup in places like a grocery store. Black slacks, a small white polo, striped tie, but she looked surprisingly appealing in the attire, topping off with her light rose colored hair.

Secretly, sweat was dripping out of Peri’s large and frizzy hair. The blonde covers her face with the newspaper and pretended to read something to look busy. She glances back at Lapis whose back was leaning against the wall. Thankfully, she stopped snoring since she was lying upwards. 

“You two better not be procrastinating over there.” Pearl says looking at the girls behind the counter. 

“…What else would I–––we be doing?” Peridot answers unsoundly. 

Pearl raises an eyebrow and glares directly at her. Peridot sinks her newspaper a little to see an almost strict look at her manager.  
“I-I mean, of course not, Pearl…” she says jittery. But her appearance still did not look convinced. “MA’AM! I mean ma’am.” 

“That’s better.” she says passable.

This was exactly what Lapis and Peridot kept talking about. Literally any kind of verbal or physical screw ups could get the two in to trouble. 

Pearl paces closer to the counter, making tensions higher for Peridot. “So how many people came in tonight?” she asks. 

“Um…just a few I guess.” Peri replies, but no one really came in the whole time she was around. 

“Any accidents?” the manager then asks. “I could’ve sworn I heard some odd and loud voices from my office…”

Well isn’t that hilarious. “Uh…No there hasn’t been any.” Peridot gulps. “I don’t think anything odd and loud would happen in a convenient store at 1 in the morning Pearl¬¬……Ma’am.”

Pearl noticed her anxious and fidgety behavior when she was talking. She was grinning though, just not pleasantly. She assumed Peri was just afraid of her due to the amount of times she counseled her nonstop while also impending to fire her. Well that, or there was something else that she was troubled about. 

She does gape at her for 10 seconds, and then she gawps to Lapis, who looked unbearably offbeat. Her back was rested lavishly against the wall, her mouth was slightly opened, and the keepsake glasses she was wearing with a palm tree was just uncanny.  
“Is everything okay with you, Lapis?” Pearl asks. 

Peridot wanted to panic as soon as she sees Pearl try to converse with the blue haired girl. But she couldn’t shew her away or get Lapis to answer back. All she could do was flare her eyes and roughly grip her newspaper while screaming internally. Pearl was responded with stillness and stares at Lapis inquisitively. 

She clears her throat. “Lapis I asked if you’re you feeling alright? You don’t look like yourself.” She says. But she was answered with hush and dense inhalation again. 

The situation would be more unnerving if Pearl tried to interact with her physically. But the odds of that happening are about 50 out of 100. Peridot decides to intercede before her manager realizes that one of her employees was knocked out. 

“She’s just tired...” She brings up but almost exclaims. “Well uh, you know how she always comes to work earlier than I do. So she’s probably drained out from working more behind the counter all night.” 

Pearl is convinced but not too swayed. “You have a point, but I wanted her to answer me.” She says. “Besides, it’s kind of her fault that she always leaves you behind in your apartment to nap.” Peridot is comically surprised that she knows the reason for her tardiness. 

“So you’re tired, huh?” Pearl stares directly at the comatose blue haired. She was pretty much just going to be replied with more silence, even if she interrogated her more than she should be.  
Peridot quietly inches closer beside Lapis and sneaks her hand behind her spine. Pearl doesn’t notice. Her petite hands reach for the back of her skull and move her head slightly forward and back, giving the illusion that she nodded as a response. Pearl still doesn’t notice Peridot’s actions. 

“Hmm. Okay.” She says induced. “But this won’t mean I’ll give you the night off and go home...” not like any of them asked for it before. “…I’m actually pretty tired just by watching you two all night…” she abruptly gaps the same way Peridot does. “Wait a minute.” Her fingers pinch her chin as she thinks. 

Her tone was stern and wary and still looking at Lapis. She must’ve figured out she was passed out the entire time. “We’re screwed. I’m screwed.” Peridot speaks in her mind while constricting her fists. She should also take some time to realize how incessant her panic attacks are.  
But apparently and no surprise, Pearl does not apprehend Lapis’ catalepsy at all. Instead, she turns to the entrance and gaits away from the counter, leaving Peri in respite and pressure. 

“Ugh, I knew I felt like there was something wrong about this place.” She refers to the Open and Closed sign that was switched earlier. Hence, she goes ahead and swaps it back to reading “We’re Open.”  
“Peridot, how do you expect us to have any customers come in here with a sign that says we are closed?” her tone is stern as she piercingly asks. 

She shrugs a bit. “Maybe one of us forgot to change it when we came in?” she replies

“It read ‘We’re Opened’ when I came in hours ago.” She groans tiringly and rubs her eyes. “You know what, never mind.” 

Pearl walks near the counter again before she could retreat back to her trivial office. “Peridot, you and Lapis are acting very strange tonight and I don’t know want to know why.” She says. “Either you two are pranking me or you really want to get out of here just as much as I do. But remember…” she then sticks her fore finger up.  
“I’m Pearl, your boss at work, not the Pearl you know outside of work.” She and Peridot say at the same time. “…You say that to us every night like we’re some fricking kindergarteners…” the blonde replies. 

“And no complaining too.” Pearl says lastly to Peri. She gawps back at Lapis who was still unknowingly motionless. “Just watch over each other like you guys always do.” She says. But she strides swiftly instead of waiting for an answer. 

Peridot watches her open the door to her workspace and overhears her mumbling inaudibly. “Amethyst can do a better job than those two. I wonder if I could hire her back somehow…” she hears her finishing words before shutting the door. 

The store is dead silent at last again. A second later, Peridot smacks the counter instantly with her clenched fists and breathes heavily to release her rigidity. She was never able endure that much pressure in less than 5 minutes or so. Her stressed out groaning was repetitive and loud. “Ugh, why must I suffer like this tonight??” she utters. 

Manager Pearl is never intentionally intrusive. Her perfectionist-like behavior is pretty much natural, but it probably had something to do with a girl named Rose Quartz, someone who she once hung out with and alleged to have a crush on, or maybe even dated. But they never had the time to look over it. Pearl is still one of their noble friends who feel the same life-sucking pain they do working in a convenience store late night.

Somehow overlooking that Peri’s unconscious partner was right beside her, she delays to examine if she was all okay after being passed out upwards. Eventually, the insentient Lapis loses her balance and falls of her seat, impacting the floor as a result. “Crap, Lapis!” Peridot is promptly alarmed. 

The sunglasses on her face tosses off and her limbs flail all over the ground. Peridot kneels down quickly and caresses her cluttered bangs draping her aspect once again. “Lapis?” she asks waiting for her eyes open out of the blue. But instead, she perceives her snoring. Her endearing and augmenting, hopeless snoring. 

Unbelievable. 

“Please, just wake up already….” She laments face down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need tea.


	3. Escaping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot decides to leave the convenience store and take Lapis home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the week-long wait, I've been kinda busy. But hey, I finished another chapter.

Peridot tediously carries Lapis’ body back up on her seat, but this time she makes her head lie against the counter top so there would be no chance of falling off again. Plus, it gave the deception that she was actually awake and simply resting herself like always. Their manager already came out to see the two girls, and Peridot’s astute but panicky thinking achieved tricking Pearl that nothing was wrong. But in reality, she was in deep distress not to cause a scene since her roommate was knocked out accidently.

The blonde sits down on the counter the same way Lapis usually does in some nights. She kinda feels taller, seeing Lapis comatose in a taller stature. She’s only sedentary on the desk just to give herself a good ol’ break. And with all honesty, she’s had the most energetic night ever working in the convenience store. Her head is still recessed to the floor while she sighs longer than average. 

“This is stupid.” She utters. “How did I slam the door on Lapis and not pay attention?”

She wondered if anyone was blamable for the mishap or how it even occurred. Was it because she kept oversleeping after a long day of classes? Or was it because Lapis never bothered to wake her up again and go to work on her own? She never understood why she did that though. But Peri tries not to overthink other things like if Lapis never wakes up from her coma or her getting arrested for it.

“Thank god Pearl was naive enough to think she was still awake. And they call me gullible…”

What would Lapis do if she was in the same situation as Peridot? Definitely she would be just as anxious as her, probably a lot more panicky. But faithfully, how would she attempt to wake her back up? Peridot is asking herself a lot of questions in her break time at the moment. 

 

Flashback to a few nights ago…

 

Lapis and Peridot have officially lost track of how long they have been working in the convenience store, not like that was necessary. The blue haired girl was by kneeling by an isle while supplying a random stand with bags of snacks (Doritos, Tostitos, everything triangle-shaped, etc.). As she was at work, she overhears the door open and somebody panting rather heavily. She peeks out to see who just came in, and it was just as expected. 

“Well if it isn’t the ‘great and lovable Peridot.’” Lapis says crucially. 

“Hey…” she tries to reply irately but takes a moment to catch her breath. “…you have no right to announce that right now! You left me unaided and had to arrive on my own again you CLOD!” 

Lapis snorts. “I’m sorry, really.” She says. “I don’t wanna be called a clod. But at least you weren’t caught in an accident...”  
“Yeah you’re right I guess.” Peridot tiresomely walks behind the counter and proceeds to begin her work. “Ugh…” her mane is nuzzled bumpily.

Lapis later grabs a bag of Doritos and calls out Peridot’s attention. “Hey Peri, it kinda looks like you.” She mocks. The blonde is immediately affronted and groans atypically. 

“That makes no sense Laz, my hair doesn’t even look too much like a triangle.” Peridot elucidates. Well ahead she yawns dozily and rubs her eyes. “I wish I could just get knocked out and skip work already.” ironically desiring.

Lapis was done supplying the stand and raises back up to saunter to the counter.  
“Well, let me tell you something. If you ever passed out right now, I would be freaking out so hard. Then I’ll probably ditch this place to take you back home and wait ‘till you wake up…” 

 

As soon as she was done reminiscing, that’s when it struck her…

 

“That’s it…” Peridot confidently resolves. “Lapis, WE’RE GOING HOME. I don’t care if we get fired for this...” It was finally settled. In order to take care of Lapis and get her conscious without pressure, she had to take her back to their apartment. 

She carries Lapis out of her seat with her trifling arms and shawls her tight as she walks all the way to the exit, even though half her body was being drawn around again. She looks at the open and closed sign and swiftly changes it to “Sorry, we’re closed”, and it was going to stay that way for the whole night. She gently kicks the door open and jets her way out, handling Lapis with care. Phase 1 of her escape plot was successful. But Peridot was far from being finished. “Goodbye, Pearl, and goodbye blackhole of boredom.” 

She squeals and grunts as she carries her blue haired partner to their transport. “Why the heck did I park all the way to the edge?” she sharply asks herself. The real question that Lapis would often ask is that how is she able to drive with such a petite height? Her feet are probably too short to reach the gas pedal.  
Peridot never stopped to think about the consequences of leaving the convenience store unguarded. And she had thought way too much already. Sure, there would be customers probably wanting to enter, but this has all been said before, a convenience store IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. No one would ever stop by that much. 

Of course there were everyday customers who only occasionally stop by though. First, there were these so-called cool kids (Buck, Jenny and Sour cream were the names Peridot remembered). But most of the time they never really went inside. They mostly just stood outside chilling out or something like that. Lapis and Peri made fun of the tall one with white hair every so often since he almost looked a lot like Pearl. He notices, but evidently he replies by shrugging and saying “Meh.” 

Then there was this other guy with hooped ear lobes. He only stops by once a week, but he was a familiar face in the store. “Lars” was perhaps his name. He came in with a sullen expression and distinctive donut uniform, undoubtedly a fellow a convenience store employee. He was also probably from the Big Donut which was a way better place than the dump Lapis and Peridot worked in. 

Peridot finally reaches the car that she used to come to the convenience store, unsuitably parked on a lot by an alleyway near the store. She grabs the keys and unlocks the car, later opening the passenger seat door. The blonde pushes her unconscious girlfriend inside, but that was a lot harder than it sounded. The scene was ominously and needlessly dark too. So the fact that she was shoving somebody into a car next to an alleyway made everything look very suspicious. 

“Maybe if I just…” Peridot ponders on how to put Lapis’ body all the way inside. 

Unexpectedly, the voice of a child arbitrates with Peridot’s outflow. “Peridot…?” the voice asks. 

She shrieks and marginally panics quite petrified, only to turn around and see another familiar face that comes to the convenience store too.

“Steven?!” Peridot squints. “What are you…..doing out here?”

“I was about to go to the store until I saw you outside. I think should be asking you the same question.” 

Peridot tries to hide half of Lapis’ body sticking out of the car. “Steven, we’re, um, closing for the night.” She tries to clarify.

“What?!” he replies dazed. “I thought you guys were opened 24 hours!”

“Well, Pearl changed the rules so no one is allowed to enter anymore…”

At that moment, Steven notices a pair of legs shadily drooping out of the car’s passenger seat. He tries to step closer to inspect who it was, leading Peridot to become unnerved again. “Wait, who is that?” he utters.

“N-no, Steven, I wouldn’t walk closer here if I were…!” 

Unfortunately Steven succeeds to get a clear glimpse of Lapis knocked out in the back seat. Peridot firmly covers her mouth and noiselessly squeals as she finally failed to keep Lapis’ catalepsy a secret.

“Is that Lapis?” Steven recognizes. “And is she…sleeping?”

“Ah! I knew I should have kept the shades on her face!” Peridot yells. “Steven, please forget you ever saw this...!” her voice becomes high and jumpy than usual. 

“Why?” he asks. “Lapis isn’t hurt, is she?”

“Um, uh…no! Yes! I mean, augh, I don’t know! She just got knocked out somehow!”

Steven gasps. “Maybe we should get some help…I’ll call an ambulance and…”

“NO!” Peridot’s eyes widen further. “Look, I don’t want to start anything dramatic. I need to make sure Lapis wakes up alright and hope she doesn’t remember getting knocked out.”

She grabs a wallet out of her pocket and brings out supposedly 20 dollars or so. “Steven, just forget everything you saw and heard.” She offers the coinage in front of him. Bribing him was probably the worst idea she thought of so far, but she was desperate to make sure he goes away. 

“Wait, you can’t bribe me!” Steven says. “Peridot, we need to find help if she’s injured.”

“I CAN HELP HER MYSELF!”

For the whole conversation, Peridot looked like she was about to cry at any moment since her eyes were emerging quite soggy. But obviously she would try to resist and look resilient. Steven noticed her expression being very livid and uneasy, hence he knew if he followed her orders it would actually HELP her and Lapis in a way. 

Steven exhales. “Okay.” He takes Peri’s offer. “I’ll forget we ever saw each other and I’ll just head home.”

Peridot chuckles and feels a lot calmer. “Ahh thank you Steven!” she grins.

“Are you sure Lapis is gonna be okay?”

“Yep. I got this all under control.” Not really though.

Peridot watches Steven leave the parking and go to someplace else. Now it was time to get back in track and take Lapis home. And hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, nothing was going to get in her way again.  
She enters the backseat to pull all of Lapis’ body inside, then exiting and closing the door. Afterwards, she rushes to the driver’s seat and moans cripplingly yet again. “There’s nothing to worry about now, Peridot.” She talks to herself again. “All you have to do drive and take care of Lapis.”

She looks back at the passenger’s seat and stares at Lapis, somnolent and peaceful and snoring once again. Maybe she could wake up in the car any moment. Or maybe there was more time needed. Peridot nods and turns to the steering wheel, initiates the engine, panels the stick shift to reverse, pretty much all the essentials of starting a car.

Phase 2 of her escape plan was now finished. She reaches the gas pedal and abruptly flees the area, something she thought she was never going to do. Her eyes were locked on the empty and illuminated road, swelling lots and lots of density and exhilaration as she drives. She didn’t know whether to feel guilty or plain exultant that she was leaving the convenience store, so why not both? She hasn’t so much compelling sentiment since the last time she rebelled against her ‘last boss’.

“Nyehehe”

4-6 MINUTES LATER

Phase 3 was the final point which was basically arriving home, and it was also successful. Peridot parks the car and turns off the engine. Her head bangs the steering wheel and shuts her eyes as she gives herself a 5-second break. She feels as if she was going to pass out herself, but she didn’t have time for that. She gets out of the vehicle and pulls Lapis out, carrying her again but feeling like she was getting heftier. Maybe it was because she was exhausted. 

She walks all the way to their door on the second floor of the complex holding every other apartment, making her feel a lot tired than before. She reaches the room keys in her pocket and unlocks it with one hand, opening the door to a dark room. 

The lights are flicked open. “Home sweet home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lapis shall wake up sooner or later. I'll be up writing it excitedly


	4. Bedsit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis finally wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M SO SO SORRY IF I TOOK TOO LONG TO PUBLISH!! (but what are the odds of any of you even caring anyway). I was super busy with a lot of things last month that I didn’t have enough time for writing or anything else! I had to move to a new house, visit a few relatives, and other stuff that made me lose track of time a little. I did have lots of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you will love this fic so far!

Peridot enters the area and glances around the living room of their apartment…  
The studio is rather big, almost like the interior size of a barn but not quite. The whole room is purely enclosed with random objects and sculptures either hanging on the walls or lying on the floor. All of the artifacts and artworks in the room however were all sculpted by Lapis and Peridot, but they preferred to call them “meep morps” for some unspecified reason. There was a baseball bat deceitfully hung on the wall, a damaged tape recorder displayed on a cylinder counter, boxes of old Camp Pining Hearts episodes on different formats,   
an object shoved into another object, an object glued to another object, an object debauched into other damn objects, water, a plush alien hanging by the couch with its neck cut up, and so much other enigmatic items lying around the place. On one occasion they were mistaken for being hoarders. But really, they just didn’t have much of an art studio in their apartment. 

Peridot walked through their rebate art museum with Lapis faintly frizzed on her arms, tiptoeing through the other misplaced artworks on the floor and being gradually vigilant. Their room was only a few paces away, and they’ll be receiving a well-deserved shuteye in the end.   
The door of the bedroom was by an undersized hall and Peridot opens it. It’s pretty dark but she doesn’t stop to turn on the lights as vague brightness was glimmering through a window anyway. She walks to the bed and gradually lays her girlfriend on the mattress at last. And she recesses to stand beside her and merely gaze at Lapis lying cataleptic near the corner. She looks like a dead corpse in a funeral that happens to be breathing. 

“Amethyst was right, I should be working out more.” Peridot randomly queries how she was able to lift Lapis for a lengthy period. Maybe she was just stronger than she looks? “Now all I have to do is figure out how I’m going to awaken her this time……again”. 

She scours her eyes under her glasses and yawns luridly. “Wow, I’ve had a hell of a night.” She utters quietly and laidback. It was definitely time that she took one last break. Her spectacles were placed on a cupboard by the bed and crawls to bed beside Lapis. She coils up and makes herself comfortable quickly, facing the direction of her blue haired partner with a dulled and bushed expression on her face. Her eyes amplify to stay awake and guard her, but she feels herself passing out slowly. 

“Goodnight, Laz…” 

Unwittingly, she shuts her eyes almost instantly and leaving both girls in a semi-lifeless trance for the whole night. 

 

 

8:31 AM

Frail sunlight scowled through the window by the bed and lighting up the bedroom moderately. It’s day time now. And out of nowhere, perhaps a dawdling miracle, Lapis had woken up.

“Ungh…” she frustrates to open her eyelids and get up from bed eventually. A bump from her door collision was still visible behind her bangs, thus she felt a tender ache above her skull and touched her forehead. “Augh. What…happened?” 

As she upstretched out from bed, she examines the whole setting and puzzlingly finds herself inside the bedroom in her apartment, still wearing her work uniform from a few hours ago. “How did I get back here?” She glances down and realizes Peridot fast asleep and hugging her waist. 

Lapis still remembers going to the convenience store at 12 in the morning and walking to the entrance to look for Peridot. But apparently, her memory could only go only go so far. Getting impacted by the door was the only thing she overlooked. She needed to waken herself a little more and try to figure out what was going on, so she unwraps Peridot’s arms and sneaks out of bed. 

“Hmm....Maybe this is a dream?” Lapis rashly assumes. She tries pinching her arm, it didn’t work. So she knew everything was factual. “Or maybe me being back in the convenience store was also a dream…Nah who am I kidding? I know it was real.” Another thing she was concerned about was the aching pain on her forehead. She couldn’t stop trying to rub it tenderly and groaning inaudibly. Did she or Peridot cause it? And why does she feel like she’s been asleep for decades? This was all evidently linked somehow. 

She brings her phone out of her pocket to see what time it was since the clock in their room stopped working for a while now. Its half passed 8am. But there were some intriguing notifications that were alerted a few hours ago. All of them were from Pearl, and from the looks of it, she was not in the brightest mood when she tried contacting her. 

 

12 missed calls, as well as a few very angry messages

Pearl 5 hours ago  
LAPIS WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU AND PERIDOT??! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU GUYS FOR HOURS NOW AND I COULD’VE SWORN I SAW PERIDOT DRAGGING YOU OUTSIDE AND GETTING IN TO A CAR. YOU BETTER NOT BE DITCHING WORK JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE EXHAUSTED!!! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!

Pearl 5 hours ago  
I’ve been waiting for 10 minutes now Lapis. I want you and Peri back behind the counter right this instant OR I’M FIRING BOTH OF YOU!

Pearl 5 hours ago  
Okay I give up…I don’t think you two are going to show up since none of you have replied to anything I’ve said. I’m not going to fire you but I need you guys to show up in the next shift and talk. You’re in BIG trouble by the way. 

 

And that was only 3 out of probably more than a hundred. Lapis read them with an eyebrow raised, having absolutely no clue on what the hell Pearl was trying to exclaim. And wait….’Peridot dragging her outside and getting into a car’?

She gapes at the blonde slumbering right in front of her. Without a doubt, Peri had everything to do with the situation. Lapis could try to wake her up and she will almost certainly explain everything to her. So she kneels a little bit towards her girlfriend and tries to wake her up. 

“Psssst. Peridot…” she says softly and starts poking her arm and eventually her face. “Peri, c’mon, wake up…” Life is imitating itself at this moment. 

Peridot began squirming and hears Lapis’ soft voice calling her name. And that ironically took less than a second. “Nghh…” her eyes squint open and her vision was blurry. The stirred blonde grasps a familiar looking silhouette upon her. Her vision gruffly clears in the end, eyes were widened abruptly, and Lapis…she’s awake?!

“*GASP* “LAPIS!!!” 

Peridot immediately rejuvenates and mashes her emotions together as the blue haired girl was seen finally conscious. Lapis is surprised straight off the bat but she’s pretty exultant, then quickly receives a hurdled embrace by the short girl and getting her shoulders squeezed very firmly and warmly. 

“Oh my gosh, I thought you were gonna stay in a coma forever!” Peridot’s eyelids are solidly shut and she hugs Lapis tighter. The tone of her voice sounds like she’s whimpering but that was explicable since she has been worried and stressed all night. 

Lapis giggles from her bliss. “Wait…Coma?” she asks curtly. This is starting to explain a lot now. “How did I…pass out?”

Peridot pauses and bites her lip. “Uh…” she limply lets go of Lapis and takes a seat while staring down. “Okay, how do I put it this way…?”   
Considering she was the one who knocked out Lapis in the first place, she had no idea how she was going to respond once she brings it out. Perhaps she’d be stunned and nothing else, or she’ll be angry and get her ass kicked hard. But there was no way to know for sure. 

“Lapis,” Peri gets up. “how much do you remember from last night?” 

“Not much, I think…” she replies. “I’m trying to remember but I’m very unsure.” 

“You don’t even recall me knocking you out from the…” she gaps before Lapis could hear her finish. But she clearly figured it out already.

“Wait, you knocked me out?” she asks perplexed. “How did you even…”

The blonde sighs, here goes nothing. “Well… it was back in the convenience store a few hours ago, and you were standing close by the entrance. Then I rushed to the door because I was late again, but I think I might have opened it too hard without noticing you were there. So I guess the impact caused you to be unconscious for the whole night.” Her speech was unhurried but her tone was clearly distressing. There was an awkward silence for a split second. 

“BUT I TRIED WAKING YOU UP.” Peridot loudly points out. “I did everything to get you conscious again in the store and I kept failing a lot. So I drove us back home to take care of you and…that’s it.” The blue haired girl had her arms folded and stared at her with a plain confused look. 

“Please don’t be mad, Lapis…I know it sounds pretty stupid and that you also received a wound too, and it’s my entire fault so I’m a reckless clod. So just say whatever you want…” Peridot glances deeply down the floor and waits for an irate and garish response. But suddenly she received the opposite of that. 

Out of nowhere, Lapis snorts and chortles stridently from Peridot’s recollection and leaving her astounded but also relieved. Everything she said was too ridiculous to be true but it was all tangible. The whole story needed to be enlightened. 

“D’aw, that really happened??” Lapis asks hysterically and tenderly.

“Briefly, yes.”

“You have tell me EVERYTHING Peri. I mean, how did you ditch Pearl and the store so easily? And how were you able to escape without letting people know I was unconscious?”

“Heh heh..It was a long night. But I can probably tell you all the details somehow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this was supposed to be the chapter of the story where everything ends. But I felt like this needed to continue for 1 or more parts, and I already have a draft for another chapter that I wrote a few nights ago. I was even thinking about turning this into a series. What would you guys think?


	5. Time for recollection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot explains what happened in the convenience store last night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp, it took a while to update again...It been back to school for me now where I’m at and it’s been really hard to write stories with all the homework and studying. Plus I’ve only been able to write angst fics for quite a while. BUT ITS ALL GOOD NOW, I SPENT A LOT OF WEEKS TRYING TO POLISH THIS AND I THINK IT’S ALRIGHT.
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter is LITERALLY just a recap of what happened in the last 4 chapters of this fic. The writing is also a little rusty and…not much will be happening. But this is the final chapter. And thank you guys so much for reading! I’ve had a hell of a time and I wanted to make this fic a little longer. But I’m all out of ideas…for now.

Peridot doesn’t tell her story to Lapis right away. She almost had no idea where, or how to begin with her elucidation, even though she technically did already. So instead the two girls escorted themselves out of the bedroom and onto the next room, continuing on with their daybreak. Their employee uniforms were taken off and back to their normal clothes, the whole apartment was shining daylight, everything was reassuring so far.  
Before they could proceed with breakfast, Peridot made them stop in the living room as she needed to patch up something quick. Lapis’ bump was still visible, and it made the petite girl feel uptight. Hence she took some cloth and bandages out of an old first-aid kit lying around and mended Lapis’ bump on her head. The trolled fabric covered all of her forehead and was hidden under her blue hair. Patching her up didn’t seem necessary to do so, but she really felt like she needed to. 

“Do you feel better yet?” Peridot asks amiably. 

Lapis ponders. “Hmm…Maybe a kiss would make it feel better?” 

The fretful blonde promptly caresses her patched forehead and well along her cheek. Lapis immediately grins flustered and snorts, face changing color a little. “Thanks, Peridot.” 

 

Normally Lapis did most of the breakfast cooking, but Peridot decided to volunteer this time since her partner’s concussion might also require her to rest. They headed to the kitchen next, and the short girl grasped an apron to wear and a footstool to reach the stove so she could make the batter for blueberry pancakes. Lapis on the other hand was seated and rested by the dining table for 2, ready to listen to Peridot tell her story as she prepared the cuisine. 

“So how does the story start?” Lapis asks clued-up.

“I kind of already told most of it but….” Peridot contemplates. “I guess if I’m starting over, I should probably start with when I ran to open the door.” she reminisces as she starts dropping the ingredients into a bowl and mixing them. It’s time to recap…

They couldn’t face each other since the stove was by some other wall that made Peridot to face the opposite direction to Lapis. Hence Lapis seemed to be the only one that could view her girlfriend in full body perspective. The blue haired guaranteed herself that she was going to laugh in every sentence Peridot would say in her story. Thus she sat down rather upturned and listened to every word the shrewd conversationalist expressed for a number of minutes. 

“I already mentioned before about how I got you unconscious…I opened the door firm on you and suddenly WAPAMO!” she yelled the same time she cracked 2 eggs. “But now I shall tell you what happens AFTER that.” the blonde commences.  
“Waking you up was already my first instinct when I saw you lying on the floor. But that wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I needed to convey…You wouldn’t believe how much I had to carry you around, Lapis. I think I should be growing some muscles right about now.”  
Lapis imagines it gaudily. Heck.  
“Yeah, I wouldn’t...” 

Peridot turned on the stove and grabbed the spatula and frying pan lying around the tabletop. She spilled a hefty amount pancake batter into the disparage and just proceeded from there. It caused a sputter, making her flinch a little and stop.  
“Hmm…Anyways, if you thought Pearl couldn’t be any more intrusive, she had the need to check on both of us AGAIN and nearly awakened you!” she explains irately. The short blonde turns her head to Lapis and grins modestly. “But luckily with my quick thinking, I managed to grab a pair of sunglasses off the counter and put it on your face so it’d look like you were awake before Pearl could walk in.” she says content.  
Lapis gawks at her and chortles amused. “You did the glasses trick. Nice.” She says kindly. Peridot replies with her rather typical laughing. 

One pancake was flipped solely and caused another sputter on the pan. The blonde yelps vigorously and almost lost track of her story quite gruffly. “Now…”

“Wait.” Lapis interrupts for a while. “…If Pearl almost caught you red-handed, what about anyone else in the store?” 

“Well, I turned the sign in the door to say that we were closed that way no one could come in and disturb me.” Peridot explains. 

“Pearl could’ve have gotten you in real trouble if she realized that.”

“She did, Lapis.”

 

A few minutes of sincere rambling and listening later…

 

The two girls made time faster just by storytelling. Breakfast was almost served but they weren’t too hungry. Both of them were a tad scruffy but didn’t matter. The story was long but it was quickly coming to an end.  
“Then I realized I couldn’t handle much more of it. So I dragged you into the car and drove you home.” Peridot is right in the climax. . The more she talked, the more she waved her spatula around like a wand and distracted herself from cooking. “Well…Steven interrupted me and found out you were unconscious. But its fine, I bribed him so he wouldn’t tell anyone!” she says like it was not a big offense.

“Is this when we arrive home and end the story?” Lapis asks inquiring.

“Um…yes.” Peridot replies. “The drive to the apartment wasn’t too long. I managed to get both of us into bed unkemptly and peacefully and...That’s it.” 

And just like that, it was safe for Lapis to say that she enjoyed it. “Well I liked it a lot. Bravo Peridot.” She says gawkily but sincere.

The blonde ended just in time after the blueberry pancakes were finally stacked and finished. They were a tad overcooked, some half-baked, but it wasn’t like Peridot was skilled to flashback and cook at the same time. The blonde took off her apron and stepped the down the stool, bringing the plate to the two girls’ table. 

 

“So, are you sure you tried everything to wake me up?” Lapis asks. 

“Yep. I’m pretty sure I did EVERYTHING” Peridot replies while going to grab the plates, forks, knives, and syrup to serve on the table as well. 

“How come CPR didn’t work?”

“I guess it just…didn’t work for some reason?” Peridot never clarified how she actually tried it, thinking that it would be idiotic to bring it up. 

“What about splashing water on my face? That always seems to work on everybody.” Lapis points out.

Hence Peridot breathes severely. “No…” She squirms and face palms gently. “How did I overlook that with all the time I had then?” she complains in her mind. 

“Well, I guess that’s that.” Lapis says. Peridot finally takes a seat down and grasps herself a flapjack. 

The blue haired girl contemplates and stares marginally at her girlfriend. “…It’s uh…pretty sweet of you trying to wake me up from a coma single-handedly, Peridot. You could’ve gone through enormous trouble and gotten both of us fired, but you risked a lot trying to ignore work and waking me up all night. That almost sounds too nice of you to do.” She expresses while staring at her with a bright grin. Peridot hears every word and looks down the ground, hiding her flushed expression and obliged smile. 

Lapis brings her phone out of her pocket and opens the scolding messages sent by Pearl. “Oh yeah, you might want to look at this for a sec.” She gives the receiver to her. Peri scrolls and glances keenly through the long spammed messages and instantly dumbfounds her. 

“What in the….?” she utters startled. Pearl’s voice was vaguely heard immediately as soon as she read through a few of the messages. It was simply a lot of threats of them getting fired, mixed with worrying that something radical must have happened in the store while she wasn’t looking, and that they have to come back as soon as possible.  
“Well shit then.” 

“So how are you going to explain everything to Pearl once we get back to work?” Lapis asks. 

“It-It’s fine. I can think of something convincing and excusable until we see her”. Both of them were chewing on tasteful catering for a minute, and Peridot’s cooking looks sort of better than it tastes. She sat there trying to think of what else to say to Lapis about her unconsciousness, mostly just more apologies and explanations. Although it seems that they both have said enough already, she felt like there needed some more talking with her. 

“You know…you really had me worried last night.” Peridot quickly expresses the first thing in her mind. Lapis gazes forward and intent at her again. If only she knew how actually distressing her circumstances were back in the store. 

She stretches her hand to Peridot’s on the table and grasps it mildly. “There’s no need to be anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO SO MUCH TO MY BEST FRIEND FOR INSPIRING ME TO WRITE THIS FIC!  
> If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t know what else would I be writing next. You’ve always given me a lot of motivation to write and you always have such great ideas. I really hope you enjoyed this fic as much as a few people did! I wish I could do more to show you how happy and grateful I am.

**Author's Note:**

> This is another fic dedicated to my best friend who essentially thought of everything that happened and will happen. Hope you enjoyed reading!


End file.
